A funny and generally non-preachy YA novel about an Australian Muslim girl figuring out her cultural identity. There are a few clunky bits where the author’s desire to educate trumps her sense of how dialog works.

Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, and Calling on Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede

Oh, Suck Fairy, why must you visit so much of my library? I used to love these books.

Manga

Angel Nest, by Erika Sakurazawa

Sweet, slickly-drawn short story collection. The title story, about a recently-divorced woman who finds her empty apartment invaded first by an angel, then by her ex-husband’s teenaged mistress, is the best.

Between the Sheets, by Erika Sakurazawa

Depressing, slickly-drawn story about dysfunctional people messing up each other and themselves, which Tokyopop shouldn’t really be marketing as gay-positive. None of the characters are particularly likable.

Ode to Kirihito, by Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka punches you repeatedly in the stomach.

MÄR, by Nobuyuki Anzai

This manga follows the Shounen Jump formula so closely that, during the three years of its publication, it is written that Yoshihiro Togashi would frequently look over his shoulder in puzzlement and fear, wondering what ghost it was that he felt stepping on his heels. (If Togashi ever got out of bed then, I mean.)

Flame of Recca, by Nobuyuki Anzai

Anzai’s first major work, which strays from the formula occasionally, with some good results and some bad. Compulsively readable up to the end of the tournament arc, but Anzai has major issues with women, and there’s way more fetish stuff than you want to see in a kids’ story.